Stobwasser (Manufactory)
Stobwasser is the name of a family that founded a manufacturer of lacquerware in Braunschweig in 1763 , which existed there until 1863.
"Stobwasser" as a generic term
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"Stobwasser" is used today as a generic term for items made in Braunschweig, in particular, which were made according to the special Stobwasser technique and with a high level of craftsmanship. The painted base of these objects can be paper mache , wood or metal. The objects made of paper mache, a paper pulp mixed with glue water, were molded into models by pressing . After drying, they were coated up to five times with black varnish , which, after each layer had dried, was polished with pumice stone powder . Areas to be decorated were primed brightly, painted with oil paints and then covered again with a thin layer of clear varnish.
Company history
Foundation in Braunschweig
In order to stimulate the export economy in the city and principality of Braunschweig , but also to attract craftsmen and entrepreneurs, Duke Charles I granted them special privileges. During his reign numerous companies were founded, some of which, such as the Fürstenberg porcelain factory , still exist today. Georg Heinrich Stobwasser (1717–1776) , who came from Lobenstein in Thuringia , came to Braunschweig and founded a manufacture there in 1763 together with his father Georg Siegmund Eustachius Stobwasser as a "paintworks factory" . Due to the high quality of the goods and the resulting high demand from the Braunschweiger Hof , the court society, the military and the merchants, the new "factory" quickly developed into a large company for the time, employing almost a hundred people and his own Products soon sold nationally and internationally.
From everyday items to luxury items
With the multi-layer lacquer painting technique derived from China , household items such as B. crockery, cases, cans, boxes, trays, but also jugs and candlesticks. The main products of the handicraft business , however, were flat snuff boxes and tobacco pipes , in which even the meerschaum ( sepiolite ) was replaced by paper mache . In addition, high-quality furniture for courtyards across Europe was also produced.
Georg Heinrich's son Johann Heinrich Stobwasser (1740–1829) became the artistic director of the company , who had developed his own lacquer over many years , which was considered unique at the time. The manufactory soon tied a large number of highly qualified painters, such as B. the miniature painter Friedrich Georg Weitsch (1758–1828), who applied Stobwasser's miniature motifs (including idealized, romantic landscapes, historical and mythological scenes based on Italian, French or Dutch models) to the objects. Paintings by Johann Christian August Schwartz and Pascha Weitsch are also mentioned. The Stobwasser snuff boxes were particularly popular - not least because of their z. T. erotic representations that were hidden under a false bottom.
Protection from imitators
With the quality, the demand increased and with it the sales area expanded; Gradually, the manufactory switched to producing luxury goods . This in turn led to other entrepreneurs trying to copy or imitate Stobwasser articles. In order to protect itself against this form of product piracy , the Stobwassersche Manufaktur was allowed to use its own trademark in the form of a jumping horse in connection with a "St." (for Stobwasser) from 1775 onwards, due to a ducal privilege of Charles I. Nevertheless, many products remained unsigned or were marked (mostly inside) in red with "Stobwassersche Fabrik" or various additions, so that today this is the assignment e.g. T. difficult.
Branch in Berlin
The company flourished and its reputation soon spread to Berlin , to the court of King Frederick the Great . He then tried to poach Stobwasser to Berlin, but only a branch was founded in 1772/73 , which specialized in the manufacture of lacquered lamps. It was initially run by Louise Guérin, a sister of Christian Heinrich Stobwasser , and her French husband, before her brother also moved to Berlin to manage the company. The parent company in Braunschweig was transferred to the two employees AW Meyer and C. Wried in 1832 and was henceforth operated as "Stobwassersche Fabrik Meyer & Wried - Braunschweig" .
Climax and decline
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Berlin branch made more sales than the parent company; the sales rooms were moved from Wilhelmstrasse to Unter den Linden . Sales continued to rise, because now the international belonged to nobility for regular customers .
But finally, the ever increasing and faster advancing industrialization made it difficult to sell the handicraft products of the Stobwasserschen manufactories in Braunschweig and Berlin. This led to the fact that the Braunschweig parent company was dissolved in 1863. But production in Berlin also had to be gradually changed over to the production of lighting fixtures after Stobwasser had made an effort to improve the new kerosene lamps . Around 1900, Stobwasser was one of the most important lamp manufacturers in Germany.
Stobwasserhaus in Braunschweig
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The "Stobwasserhaus" located on Echternstraße in Braunschweig, the seat of the manufacture from 1771 , was not destroyed in the Second World War , in contrast to most of the other half-timbered houses on this street and is now used for social purposes. On June 18, 1815, a group around Christian Heinrich (Eustachius) Stobwasser founded the Braunschweig Bible Society here .
collection
With more than 200 "Stobwasser articles", the world's largest collection - currently not open to the public - is now in the Braunschweig Municipal Museum .
literature
- Camerer, Garzmann, Schuegraf, Pingel: Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon . Braunschweig 1992, ISBN 3-926701-14-5 .
- Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Günter Scheel (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon. 19th and 20th centuries . Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 .
- Angela Klein: The paint manufacturer Stobwasser in Braunschweig and its competitors . In: Leuschner, Kaufhold, Märtl (eds.): The economic and social history of the Braunschweigisches Land from the Middle Ages to the present , Volume 2: Early modern times, pp. 646–670, Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 2008, ISBN 978-3-487 -13597-7 .
- Detlev Richter (ed.): Stobwasser - lacquer art from Braunschweig & Berlin . 2 volumes, Prestel-Verlag 2005, ISBN 3-7913-3439-5 .
- Paul Zimmermann : Stobwasser, Johann Heinrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 36, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, pp. 275-279.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Place see ADB article, date according to the website of the Bible Society ( Memento of November 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
